On-course tuition or ‘playing lessons’ in my opinion are essential to player development. One of the most common sentences I hear from students is ‘why can’t I take my range swing to the course?’
There are potentially hundreds of reasons for this and on course, tuition gives your instructor the opportunity to see how you are taking the new swing changes to a different environment.
Here are 5 reasons why players struggle to see better results on the course despite having better technique.
Poor alignment often leads to compensations being made in the downswing In an attempt to start the ball online. This can then affect the clubs swing path and clubface control resulting in missed shots. Driving ranges are fantastic learning environments, however; the square mats and bay dividers make alignment easy. Even the best players in the world can struggle with alignment from time to time which is why you will often see them using alignment aids during practice.
Next time you are at the driving range, vary your targets and get used to aligning yourself correctly, use alignment sticks, mirrors and the intermediate target drill to ensure when you play, you are not having to make compensations to hit good shots which can then create more swing faults.
Something that we are all guilty of is spending hours practising from perfectly flat lies in the driving range. The reality is we are very rarely placed in that situation on the course, therefore making it difficult to carry the skill set we develop in the range to the course. Having a playing lesson with your coach will give you the opportunity to assess these lies and how you need to adapt your technique to ensure you continue to play good shots no matter what situation you are in.
Understanding where the likely miss will be with each club is essential. In many cases, players will tend to see different shot patterns with different clubs. For example, my 2 iron and 5 wood tend to over draw to the left of the target and my driver tend to push slightly to the right. Understanding where my bad shots will miss the target is essential is I am to navigate the course without losing a ball.
One of the key areas I work on with my students is to have a 1 way miss and to understand under what situation that can occur. A common theme with amateurs who are maybe struggling with their game is having a 2 way miss which therefore makes it difficult to play 18 holes without at least one blow up.
I have found that helping amateurs understand the miss with each club enables them to drastically reduce the number of balls they lose which keeps their bank account healthy as well as lowering their scores!
